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A THOUSAND MILES 
AN HOUR 




















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i A THOUSAND | 
MILES AN 
HOUR 

I BY I 

I Robert C. Givins I 

I i 

= AUTHOR OF = 

I “AROUND THE WORLD WITH THREE GIRLS OR | 

I JONES ABROAD” | 

= “THE MILLIONAIRE TRAMP” I 

I “THE RICH MAN’S FOOL” = 

i ETC. = 


❖ 


PUBLISHED BY 

Maclear & Marcus 

Chicago 


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Copyright, 1915 
Maclear a Marcus 
Chicago 





©CLASS 0 848 


PREFACE 


A small group of visitors sat 
on the porch of the Grass- 
mere Hotel, Fairyland, 
Bermuda, one evening dis- 
cussing future possibilities 
of aerial navigation — one 
suggested that if we could 
ascend beyond the limit of 
gravitation exceedingly 
quick time might be made. 

The author of this story 
who was present at the time 
decided that the idea was at 
least worth recording. 

Who can foretell the future ? 
















A THOUSAND MILES 
AN HOUR 


CHAPTER I 

I T WAS A. D. 1925. The little promontory"^ 
called Fairyland, jutting out into the bay, in 
the Bermuda Islands, was crowded with an 
excited multitude of people. “The motor cannot 
carry them.” “They will be hurled into the sea.” 
“The authorities should prevent it,” and like re- 
marks fell thick and fast from those who 
crowded about the huge, strange structure, now 
almost ready for its trial trip. This mammoth 
aeroplane had been in course of construction for 
two anxious years and today all the intricate 
machinery, compressed air tanks, improved mo- 
tors and the mysterious “atmospheric condenser” 
were in place. 

Everything was in excellent working order, 
and so pronounced by the scientific French aero- 
naut Carbonel, who had been induced to super- 
intend the work. 

Many had lately visited the Islands, partly 
out of curiosity to see the new aeroplane, and one 
young woman. Miss Leonora Loveday, had de- 


8 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

cided to accept the invitation to go. Miss Love- 
day had, with her father, recently made a record 
trip from Chicago to San Francisco in their fa- 
mous improved aeroplane. Mr. J. V. Hunting- 
ton, who had furnished funds for the expense 
of the trip and the construction work, was the 
sole owner of the wonderful new airship. The 
motorman, Hans Nelson, the expert machinist 
and engineer, Henry Wilson, together with Pro- 
fessor Aaron Childs, the noted scientist and 
authority on atmospheric conditions, comprised 
the party of six. Childs was the inventor of the 
so-called “atmospheric condenser,” by which he 
claimed and believed that the space beyond the 
limit of earthly atmosphere could be so con- 
verted and charged with certain gases that it 
would sustain human life. 

Many fishermen along the edge of Grassy Bay 
had anchored their boats and were awaiting the 
ascent of the monster airship. A huge steel 
spiral propelling screw with a fifteen foot tread 
ran up through the roof, extending forty feet 
into the air, and by the aid of the powerful mo- 
tor, the revolutions became marvelous, causing 
a lifting power of over thirty tons, while the 
airship with all its machinery and occupants 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 9 

weighed but twenty tons. If necessary, the side 
and rear propellers could be operated at the 
same time, and thus the airship directed to fol- 
low any course at the will of the motorman. 
Large charts and maps were in evidence and 
an immense revolving lens enabled the occupants 
of the car to follow the line of cities, towns, vil- 
lages, rivers and mountains to be met with on 
the trip, and “met with” in this case was a well 
selected expression, because once beyond the 
limit of attraction or gravitation, the airship 
would practically remain stationary, and the ro- 
tation of the earth would send cities, villages, 
mountains, lakes, rivers and oceans flying under 
them at the rate of about one thousand miles an 
hour. 

The time set for the ascension was 10 A. M. 
Owing, however, to the fact that the motorman 
had not received all his supplies, the start was 
delayed. Steamboats, launches, yachts, row 
boats, gun boats and craft of every description 
filled Fisherman’s Bay directly opposite the spot 
selected for the ascension. Carriages and all 
manner of vehicles lined the road to Spanish 
Point and other available driveways. 

Miss Loveday was attired in a dark brown 


10 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

traveling suit, and a small sailor’s cap. She 
was an exceedingly pretty girl, and having had 
considerable experience as an aeronaut was quite 
composed. The assemblage cheered her fre- 
quently as she appeared at the windows of the 
airship, she responding by waving a small flag 
upon which the ladies in the hotel near by had 
embroidered “Bermuda,” the name of the air- 
ship. The regiment band from Prospect Hill 
had promised to play a potpourri embracing 
several national airs as the great aeroplane 
ascended. 

It was 12:01 when Henry Wilson, the ‘engi- 
neer, announced that the machinery was in per- 
fect working order, the gasoline tanks filled, and 
they were ready to start. As the bugle called 
the band together the crowd again cheered vocif- 
erously. The powerful motor was started and 
the immense spiral screw commenced its revo- 
lutions. An engineer from a man-of-war in the 
harbor said, “It won’t go; it’s too heavy,” but as 
the great spiral screw commenced to revolve 
rapidly the engineer changed his mind, for in a 
few seconds the ponderous airship commenced 
to strain and creak and arose a few feet from the 
ground, then as more power was turned on, she 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


11 


ascended like a huge bird almost in a perpen- 
dicular direction. The occupants of the car 
waved international flags, while the crowd again 
cheered lustily, bidding them Godspeed and 
good-bye. The band played the “Star-Spangled 
Banner” and “God Save the King” as the “Ber- 
muda” sailed gracefully upward into space. At 
1 o’clock the crowd still remaining discerned 
but a small speck in the sky a little east of the 
place of ascension. At 2 o’clock the “Bermuda” 
was no longer visible to the naked eye. The ex- 
cited watchers had all dispersed. “We will 
never see them again,” said a well-dressed man 
as he slowly retraced his steps to the Hamilton 
Hotel. “Why not?” said another, “they will be 
in Peking, China, by midnight, but it won’t be 
midnight there.” The well-dressed man 
laughed, saying, “Yes, Peking or some other 
warm place.” 

After leaving the Island the motorman re- 
duced the speed to give Professor Childs an 
opportunity to experiment with the atmosphere. 
It became exceedingly cold at two miles, but 
the Professor ordered all windows in the car 
closed, touched a button he had connected with 
a singular contrivance in the car, and in a few 


12 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

minutes a temperature of 70 degrees was experi- 
enced. As they soared beyond the limit of the 
earth’s attraction, no decided change was notice- 
able in the car. After an altitude of several 
miles was reached everyone became slightly 
exhilarated and all were singing, laughing, 
cracking jokes and making fun. Even the staid 
wizard of the air, Childs, made fun of their 
trip and laughed at every little incident like an 
enthusiastic school boy. 

“Too much oxygen,” remarked Childs, “we are 
becoming excited,” then turning a small lever 
in his condenser the fun subsided and the engi- 
neer got out his chart. 

“Ten miles above the earth,” announced Car- 
bonel. “I believe we have now reached the 
limit of gravitation.” 

“Not yet,” replied Childs, “but we will soon 
be high enough.” 

“God be praised,” replied Huntington, “a 
decideration I have longed for over a dozen 
years. Has it come at last?” 

“We are now virtually so high that we are 
out of all power of the earth to attract the air- 
ship to any extent and carry us with it. Don’t 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


13 


you see? Look through the glass,” said Car- 
bonel excitedly. “The sea is rushing past.” 

“Wonderful! Marvelous!” exclaimed Hunt- 
ington. 

All peered by turns through the revolving 
telescope. The sea rushed furiously past them. 

“Why, can it be possible,” exclaimed Car- 
bonel, “we are entirely out of the limit of gravi- 
tation?” 

“Not by many miles,” said Childs, “but my 
gases answer.” 

Huntington inquired, “How fast are we go- 
ing?” 

Carbonel smiled. “We are stationary, but the 
sea is going a thousand miles an hour. The 
world, you know, goes faster at the equator — 
a little over a thousand miles an hour, but here 
not a quite a thousand. The world being 25,000 
miles around at the equator, it is not so much 
where we are. The world is going east on its 
axis; we are not moving.” 

“What time will we sight land?” asked Miss 
Loveday. 

“You will see the coast of South Carolina 
before 1 o’clock,” replied Carbonel, consulting 
his watch. 


14 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

“Do you see that large white expanse?” 

“What is it?” inquired Huntington of the pro- 
fessor. 

“Nothing but a fog. You never saw one so 
far away before,” he replied. 

“What is that little speck I see through 
the glass ahead of us?” asked Miss Loveday, 
after less than an hour had elapsed and all 
were busy discussing the genuine comfort of the 
temperature in the car. 

“Charleston, South Carolina,” replied Car- 
bonel. 

“Think of it,” exclaimed Huntington, “this 
rate of speed has never been obtained before.” 

“Thank the good world for that,” remarked 
the professor, who was busy regulating the at- 
mosphere and watching his condenser as it re- 
corded the pressure of the air. 

“This is the first time on record the motive 
power of the busy old world has been put to 
practical use,” said Carbonel. 

“There has always been a lot of nonsensical 
talk about people collapsing and freezing to 
death when out of the sphere of gravitation and 
where there is no atmosphere,” observed Pro- 
fessor Childs. “Don’t you feel quite comfort- 
able, Miss Loveday?” 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


15 


“Splendid,” the heroic young aeronaut re- 
plied. 

Engineer Wilson devoted his entire time scru- 
tinizing the working of the machinery. “I was 
afraid,” he said to Carbonel, “when we were 
ascending so rapidly it might cause friction of 
the cogs and hinder the action of the wheels, 
but the machinery is working like a charm. A 
grand success.” 

“You can thank me for that,” remarked 
Childs, “I have been giving them oxygen, hydro- 
gen and other gases as required.” 

“I know it,” replied Wilson. “Without you, 
sir, we might have been all shriveled up floating 
around in space.” 

“My apparatus exceeds my most sanguine ex- 
pectations,” proudly announced the professor. 
“Why, I can change the air in this car in a few 
seconds to any degree we desire and it aids the 
machinery.” 

“Hurrah! Hurrah!” exclaimed Huntington, 
who with Miss Loveday was examining the 
chart. “We are passing over Texas; look at 
it through the glass. See the miles of prairie! 
We are near Dallas.” 


16 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


“Please remember,” said Carbonel with a 
smile, “Dallas is passing us.” 

“Yes, yes, I forgot that,” said Huntington. 
“Say, isn’t it grand to have the earth do the 
speeding for us. One can’t ‘beat the world’ in 
this case.” 

“Oh, you would like to if you could,” said 
Miss Loveday. “Whoop! we go! In a few hours 
we will see the Pacific Ocean. That is certainly 
going. I thought I was flying when we made 
San Francisco, but pshaw! Why that was only 
snailing along. Hurrah for us!” exclaimed the 
enthusiastic young woman. What is that island 
over there in the distance?” inquired Miss Love- 
day, apologizing to Carbonel for her inquisitive- 
ness. 

“That is a great sand desert,” said Car- 
bonel. “We will pass almost directly over San 
Diego, and you will be able to see the outlines 
of trees and perhaps the white houses. The next 
islands we pass will be the Hawaiian. We go 
north of them. 

“We pass,” said Huntington, laughing. 

“Pardonnez moi,” said Carbonel.” I mean, of 
course, the^Hawaiian Islands pass us.” 

“Don’t you think I had better prepare after- 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 17 

noon tea?” asked Miss Loveday with a sweet 
smile. “We were all so excited before leaving, 
our lunch was practically forgotten.” 

“Yes, I am as hungry as a hawk,” said Hunt- 
ington. “Spread the table and I will help you 
with the dishes.” 

“Please don’t,” she said. 

“Look out!” observed Professor Childs. 
“Please wait a moment, don’t light a match, for 
heaven’s sake, girl, you might blow us all into 
atoms in a second. Hand me your teapot.” The 
professor with a knowing smile touched the tea- 
pot with a small apparatus he took from a 
drawer and the water was boiling immediately. 

“Handy man,” said Miss Loveday as she 
poured the tea into the boiling water. 

“Now, Miss, don’t do anything hereafter 
about the airship without consulting me, at least 
not until we get down to gravitation or to Pe- 
king.” 

This made them all laugh, even the busy and 
taciturn engineer chuckled. ' 

“We are now nearing the south end of Japan. 
Jerusalem!” said Huntington, carefully examin- 
ing the large map. “Think of it.” 

“Yes,” replied Carbonel, “the great Pacific has 


18 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

been crossed, or I should say again, it has passed 
us; 7,000 miles in a few hours. 

“The speed limit,” replied Leonora laughing. 

“How about the cold chicken and the ham?” 
said Huntington. 

“Plenty on board,” replied Miss Loveday, 
“and we can heat it, too.” 

“Yes, you can heat it, but for heaven’s sake, 
don’t light anything,” said the professor, look- 
ing at the drawer that contained the radium. 
“Eating cold chicken in this altitude,” observed 
the professor, “might not be good for digestion,” 
and immediately the cold chicken was steaming 
hot. 

Miss Loveday arranged the supper table quite 
elaborately, even a bouquet of roses, presented 
to her before leaving Bermuda, adorned the cen- 
ter of the small table, and all merrily partook 
of the home like repast. 

“When shall we arrive in Peking?” Hunting- 
ton inquired of the engineer. 

“I have figured it out, sir, about noon in 
Peking, midnight in Bermuda, but we may spend 
some time in alighting. When we come within 
300 miles of the Chinese capital I shall descend 
into the gravitation limit, so we, or I should say 
the earth, will apparently slow up or carry us 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 19 

with it. As we are now 100 miles south of Peking 
we will have to use our stern propeller and sail a 
little northward for a while, but I have planned 
to reach Peking between noon and 1 o’clock.” 

The professor was listening attentively to the 
engineer’s statement. 

“How will he get down to gravitation and out 
of space?” remarked the professor to himself. 
“Easier said than done. He will soon discover 
that without me he is literally stranded in space.” 

They were viewing islands south of Japan. 

“I can identify the place by the chart,” said 
Huntington. “We will soon be near the Chinese 
coast.” 

“What a lot of land there is in Asia,” re- 
marked Miss Loveday to the engineer, who was 
assisting her in putting away the dishes. 

“Yes, and no doubt there are many hundreds 
of miles of almost unexplored land. It is a vast 
Empire, China.” 

“What has become of the night?” inquired 
Miss Loveday of Carbonel. 

“Night, what do we want with night?” said 
Carbonel. “The sun has been with us. He 
is a good traveling companion in cool weather,” 
said Carbonel, laughing. “Why, my dear made- 


20 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


moiselle, the earth is turning eastward. When 
it is night in the Burmudas it is daytime in India 
and China. The earth is almost half-way around 
on its axis, although we have been up in space 
less than eleven hours.” 

As the hours wore on and the world flew under 
them, Engineer Wilson announced that they 
were within 300 miles of Peking, China. Car- 
bonel appeared to be in earnest conversation 
with Professor Childs. The profesor shook his 
head. “The spiral screw,” he said, “will have 
no effect, I am afraid.” Carbonel’s face 
blanched. “No effect! Mon Dieu! What do 
you mean?” 

“I mean that space being so light, the tread of 
the big spiral screw will not take hold, there 
being absolutely no resistance. It will be like 
trying to attach a board to water with screws.” 

“What shall we do then?” exclaimed Car- 
bonel, earnestly, his features wearing an anx- 
ious expression. 

The professor said, “Is that the only thing, 
Carbonel, you have not thought of?” 

“I am afraid we are lost,” said Carbonel, fix- 
ing his eyes steadfastly upon Childs. “How was 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 21 

it the spiral screw brought us out of the atmos- 
pheric limit?” continued Carbonel. 

“I have compressed air, hydrogen, oxygen, 
nitrogen and other gases in that steel strong box 
there,” said Childs, pointing to a huge steel, 
oval-shaped structure in the corner of the large 
car, “sufficient to run us in all kinds of atmos- 
phere for a week.” 

“You said the limit of gravitation was ten 
miles.” 

“Nonsense, man, it is forty miles, but at ten 
miles this airship, ponderous as it appears, does 
not weigh in one sense more than a few pounds. 
I have detracted certain elements from this rare- 
fied atmosphere which caused the earth to lose 
its attractive power.” 

Carbonel watched the air wizard’s face. 
There was not a trace of apprehension or fear 
in it. Perfectly composed, he continued, “Then 
we are surrounded by an atmosphere which de- 
fies gravitation.” 

Childs’ remarks quieted Carbonel and he 
turned aside and shook his head gravely. “What 
next!” he said. “What next!” 

“Ah,” replied the professor, “every man to his 
own. You are a skilled aeronaut, none better. 


22 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


I am trying to study the atmosphere. The pro- 
peller held and sent us up where we are and 
can bring us down.” 

“Yes,” said Carbonel, “I noticed how slowly 
we went the last mile.” 

“When once outside the limit of atmosphere 
the spiral screw or propeller had no effect be- 
cause I added too much of one kind of gas. 
Didn’t you notice that?” 

“Why had you not thought of this thing be- 
fore?” demanded Carbonel. “Perhaps I had,” 
remarked the professor coldly, “but I never had 
a chance to experiment in space before. I be- 
lieve I can save the ship, but so far it is an 
experiment only.” 

“Mon Dieu! an experiment only!” said Car- 
bonel, his face again turning pale. “Unless we 
can descend at once,” said Carbonel, “we will be 
far beyond our destination.” 

“Yes, certainly,” continued the professor, smil- 
ing, “for in twelve hours or so more we will be 
back in the Bermuda Islands again.” 

“It is no laughing matter,” said Carbonel 
rather angrily. 

Childs stroked his chin as if in deep thought. 
“Why should you, a man of such experience, feel 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 23 

uneasy up here?” he said calmly in reply to 
Carbonel. “You asked me why I had not 
thought of this before. I will answer you 
quickly, as time is being wasted in this discus- 
sion. Kindly assist me,” requesting Carbonel to 
unfold a long rubber hose from a box. “I take 
it,” said the professor, “that if I could sustain 
life in this cab for nearly twelve hours as I have 
done at over ten miles up, I can change space 
into atmosphere in a few minutes by the same 
process. Do you know I have also kept the ma- 
chinery working?” 

The hose was inserted through a slight aper- 
ture in the roof, and a powerful hydrogenated 
and oxygenized current of atmosphere forced 
through the tube from Childs’ wonderful con- 
denser. “Now watch the results,” said Childs. 
Carbonel stood amazed. “Nelson, reverse your 
engine and put on full power and be quick about 
it,” ordered the professor, “but reverse again 
quickly at my signal.” Wilson went to aid the 
motorman. The great spiral propeller com- 
menced to revolve slowly at first. It made no 
change in the altitude. Then swifter went the 
spiral screw, and in a few seconds the airship 
descended, slightly at first, then rapidly. 


24 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

“In less than half an hour we will be within 
the limit of the atmosphere and the gravitation 
of the earth,” said Childs. Then, as I said, re- 
verse again quickly or we will drop to earth.” 

“You are indeed a most marvelous man,” said 
Carbonel, the color coming back to his blanched 
cheeks. Huntington and Miss Loveday, appar- 
ently unconscious of what was going on, were 
studying over the map of China. 

J. V. Huntington was a retired millionaire 
hunting for excitement, and willing to experi- 
ment. He was a fine looking bronzed-faced bach- 
elor of middle age, and being of a singularly haz- 
ardous disposition, he never permitted himself to 
foresee any danger. He had arranged six com- 
fortable sleeping berths in the car, which were 
fashioned after the plan of the latest improved 
sleeping car. He was willing to remain in space 
a week. He believed implicitly in the ability 
of Professor Childs and if the professor had 
told him that he could change the course of the 
sun, he would have taken a chance on the pro- 
fessor’s ability to do something of the sort. He 
never worried about the effect of space, atmos- 
phere nor any other trivial thing. He left all 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 25 

that part of this dangerous experiment to the 
professor. 

When Carbonel was assured that the airship 
was not over one mile from the surface of the 
earth, he requested the engineer to reduce the 
revolutions of the spiral propeller, which was 
now being operated to sustain them in the air, 
and start up the two side and stern propellers 
and attended himself personally to the steering 
gear. 

“We are now not over ISO miles from Peking,” 
said the engineer, “and with the stern and side 
propellers working, sir, we can make the city 
in less than three hours.” 

Carbonel nodded his head in reply. As they 
steered their course towards the Chinese capital 
they could discern numerous natives watching 
them. The thought then came to Professor 
Childs that it might cause some commotion and 
perhaps be dangerous to alight inside the walls 
of the capital, and after consulting with Car- 
bonel and Huntington they decided to alight in 
the suburbs of the city. Carbonel, who had fre- 
quently visited China and spoke the language 
slightly, threw out over the heads of the villagers 
several notifications written upon cards sealed in 


26 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

envelopes and addressed to the “Chief or Prefect 
of Police or to whom it might interest,” which 
read in Chinese as follows: “We are a party 
of aeronauts who have sailed from the Bermuda 
Islands and hope our landing will meet with no 
opposition, and pray that we will not be subject 
to any annoyance from the citizens. We all have 
passports and will present them in due time. We 
will land in the open country west of Peking.” 

The news spread like wildfire that an airship 
was approaching from the east and the house- 
tops, streets, gardens and available open spaces 
were thronged with wondering natives. The Pre- 
fect of Police in Peking was soon made aware 
of the aerial messages, many copies of which 
had been dropped from the airship. He ordered 
a company of soldiers to proceed immediately to 
the western limits of the city and instructed them 
to afford ample protection to the aeronauts. 

The white walls of the capital could easily be 
discerned as the “Bermuda” descended slowly 
but gracefully. The big spiral propeller whirled 
around incessantly and kept the ship above the 
earth’s surface until a suitable place was picked 
out by Carbonel. A large, level area surrounded 
partially by shrubbery was the place selected. 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 27 

“It is either a ball park or a race track,” said 
Huntington. 

“No,” said Carbonel, “I should say it is a 
place for military drill. There are no grand 
stands near it.” 

Thousands of natives came flocking to the 
place. They ran in droves and their jabbering 
could be heard distinctly as the great airship 
slowly descended with the skillful Carbonel at 
the wheel. 

“Landed and safe,” said Carbonel. “Shut off 
your power, Mr. Wilson. We are here at last.” 

Miss Loveday and Huntington started to cheer 
and it was taken up and echoed by the aproach- 
ing multitude. 

“The first thing I will do,” said Miss Love- 
day, “is to wire our arrival to my dear old 
father, for he will be anxiously awaiting news 
respecting our safety.” 

“Good child,” said Huntington. “I like you 
for that. I will cable the message for you.” 

The soldiers drove the populace out of the 
small plot of land around which the engineer 
and motorman had stretched a rope, having en- 
gaged the services of several Chinese coolies to 
hold the line intact. It was precisely 2 P. M. 


28 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

when the “Bermuda,” like a monstrous bird, had 
settled down upon the level spot outside the west- 
ern wall of the Chinese capital, and in less than 
two hours all except the engineer and motorman, 
who remained in charge of the airship, were en- 
joying a hearty repast in the spacious dining 
room of the American Embassy, in presence of 
several of the nobility of China and many con- 
suls and ministers of England, United States 
and other countries. Miss Loveday immediately 
became a heroine and received the congratula- 
tions of the assemblage. 

“What shall we do?” she asked Huntington. 
“I have no dresses with me.” 

“Today we will be occupied,” he replied, “but 
tonight I will set two dozen Chinese tailors to 
work and by noon tomorrow you will be fitted 
out sumptuously with half a dozen togs.” 

Miss Loveday laughed heartily at the idea. 
“I like men,” she said, “they are always so com- 
forting.” 

“Why, these Chinese tailors,” said Hunting- 
ton, “can copy any dress you have without tak- 
ing your measure, and fit you precisely the same 
or perhaps better than any American tailor after 
a long study and six refits. Never mind the 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 29 

styles. The American minister’s wife said they 
have all kinds of styles here. The traveling 
dress you have on if copied perfectly will answer 
the purpose. You can have several made of 
different textures.” 

At first the assemblage at the Embassy could 
not comprehend the extent of the aerial flight, 
and were utterly dumfounded when it was dis- 
covered that the entire trip from Bermuda to 
Peking was made in less than fourteen hours. 
They crowded around Carbonel and Professor 
Childs, asking numerous questions and respect- 
fully demanding explanations, while Hunting- 
ton and Miss Loveday were busy discussing the 
wonderful countries over which they had passed 
or which had passed under them. 

“Through space to China in fourteen hours,” 
exclaimed the American minister. 

“Not at all, my dear sir,” answered Carbonel. 
“We have been stationary for twelve hours in 
space. The world merely moved easterly and 
brought you all to us. We only sailed upward 
and downward, except when we tacked up to 
Peking.” 

“Incomprehensible, simply marvelous, a most 
unheard of enterprise. Apparently a prodigious 


30 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

impossibility,” were exclamations often heard 
during the reception hour. 

“I am tired of all this fuss and adoration,” 
whispered Huntington to Miss Loveday. “Let 
us break away and see the city. I have talked 
myself hoarse explaining the trip over and over 
again. Let us get out of this.” 

Leaving the professor and Carbonel in the 
midst of an inquisitive group of admirers, Hunt- 
ington and Miss Loveday hurriedly stole away 
and taking a small Chinese victoria drove about 
the imperial city. Not being identified as occu- 
pants of the airship they passed a pleasant after- 
noon together, Huntington little dreaming that 
the press of the entire universe would next day 
be sounding his praises as the greatest aeroplane 
operator and inventor of the age. 

“You will never get any rest hereafter,” said 
Miss Loveday compassionately. “You will be 
interviewed by reporters, written up in maga- 
zines, entertained by scientists and likely by all 
the crowned heads of Europe. Yes, your fame 
is today known all over the civilized world.” 

“Pshaw!” answered Huntington, “who cares 
a rap for that. If you are satisfied, my dear young 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 31 

lady, let it go at that. I think you are better than 
a dozen crowned heads.” 

“Now look out!” she replied, “you had better 
wait until you see my new Chinese hat and 
dresses.” 

“When we have seen Peking, we will jog along 
to Tokio, Japan,” said Huntington. “It is not 
on our line of travel, but we can reach it by the 
older and slower method in ten hours.” 

“It is only twelve hundred miles, I noticed by 
the chart before leaving the airship,” she replied. 
But she continued looking up earnestly into 
Huntington’s face. “Please do not go beyond 
the limit of atmosphere again.” 

“Why not?” said Huntington, smiling. 

“You never realized the danger. I did. I 
overheard Carbonel and Childs discussing the 
predicament we were in. It made my heart 
beat, but I said nothing. Did you notice how 
difficult it was for me to appear unconcerned? 
Suppose Professor Childs should expire of heart 
disease when we were up in the sky? He is an 
old man.” 

“Then,” said Huntington, laughing, “we 
would float away in space forever.” 

“Promise me,” said Leonora determinately, 


32 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

“you will never go beyond the limitation of 
gravitation again.” 

“Will you not return as we came?” he asked. 

“I will let you know when I receive an answer 
to my cable from father.” 

They reached the telegraph office. The an- 
swer had been received and interpreted. It read: 
“Your father died this morning.” Miss Love- 
day leaned against the counter, her eyes filling 
with tears. “Oh, I should not have gone! I 
should not have gone!” she repeated. “The 
anxiety has killed him.” 

Huntington placed his hand gently upon her 
shoulder and said, “Poor child, I am very sorry. 
What can I do?” She held her head down and 
wept bitterly. Huntington tried to comfort her. 

Carbonel, Childs, Wilson and Nelson were to 
navigate the airship to Tokio, and there they 
were to await Huntington and Miss Loveday, 
who were to make the journey by rail and 
steamer via Korea. 

“Of course I am a venturesome girl or I could 
never have taken this trip. What shall I do? 
Go back to my home in Chicago, or travel about 
as you propose, sight-seeing indefinitely? My 
poor father, no doubt, has left me ample means.” 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 33 

Huntington replied, “I never thought of the 
propriety of the situation. Hundreds of young 
American girls travel in Europe and Asia alone. 
I am willing, for your sake, to do anything you 
propose. We can reach Washington in twelve 
hours with the airship, and you can take the 
Century Limited to Chicago in eighteen hours, 
however, not probably in time for the funeral, 
and now I think Carbonel and the others have 
already started for Tokio. I am nonplussed as 
to what to do. I will engage a lady chaperon 
for you. Lord help us,” said Huntington, “don’t 
worry any more. While in China we can travel 
with the first American or English family we 
run across.” 

“I really do not know what course to pursue,” 
she replied. 

“Suppose,” said Huntington, “we leave it this 
way for the present. We will journey to Yoko- 
hama, which is near Tokio, by the first ship that 
sails for that port. I will cable Carbonel to hold 
the airship at Tokio until further advices. So 
there now, be a good girl and wipe that last tear 
from your eye, because I can’t bear to see you 
perplexed. It will be entirely the proper thing 
for you to be with the English family we met this 


34 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


morning, and they go with us as far as Nagasaki. 
It is only a day’s run by rail from that point to 
Tokio. Say no more about it.” 

Leonora thought a minute. “I have decided 
not to return to Chicago, come what will.” 

The Merriweather family were at the Orien- 
tal Hotel, and having heard of the wonderful 
trip by Miss Loveday they were delighted, at 
Huntington’s suggestion, to permit her to accom- 
pany them to Nagasaki. Huntington and Judge 
Merriweather soon became fast friends, and 
Mrs. Merriweather and her two daughters, 
Janet and Dorothy, soon fell quite in love with 
Leonora, the name by which she shall hereafter 
be known. 


CHAPTER II 


L eonora had at first decided that unless 
she could meet with some Americans in 
Tokio she would there await a returning 
ship to San Francisco, but Huntington had been 
so courteous and kind that she decided that there 
would be no impropriety in taking an extensive 
trip as proposed through Japan. 

“I have no father, now,” she said, “no rela- 
tives. I have always longed to see Japan, and 
why not avail myself of this opportunity?” 

As she thus ruminated on the bow of the small 
steamer from Fusan, Korea, they were entering 
the beautiful harbor of Nagasaki. Ships of all 
nations were flying their flags. It was an ani- 
mated scene. Her friends were below attending 
to their luggage. Huntington came and sat be- 
side her. 

“Miss Leonora,” he said, “may I call you 
that?” 

She laughed and nodded consent. 

“The Merriweathers are to reside here, as you 
know. The Judge is to hold a position under the 
English Government. Shall we journey on to 
Yokohama together?” 


36 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


“I certainly do not want to travel alone,” she 
replied smiling. 

“Oh, I suppose I shall have to be your guar- 
dian sooner or later, so let it be understood right 
now that I am your protector, your big brother, 
your guide, your agent, your ticket purchaser, 
your defender, in case of argument with officials, 
or any like office you may prescribe for me.” 

Leonora merely nodded her head and watched 
the numerous vessels in the harbor as they floated 
by. 

“How do you like the suits the Chinese 
tailors made?” asked Huntington, as they were 
enjoying a cup of tea together. 

“They fit perfectly,” replied Leonora. 

“Even if they don’t,” said Huntington, “they 
will do for the jinrikishas.” 

“Then you propose to travel through the coun- 
try,” replied Leonora seriously. 

“Yes, we will.” 

Leonora thought a minute. 

“Perhaps we may meet with other tourists 
on the way.” 

“Now,” said Huntington, “please don’t dis- 
turb yourself over that phase of it. We certainly 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 37 

will meet travelers wherever we go like the 
Merriweathers, and when we don’t — ” 

“Yes ; when we don’t?” Leonora replied, inter- 
rupting him. 

“Well,” said Huntington with a sigh, “what 
a terrible calamity it is for a man to have a young 
lady on his hands alone in a far away country.” 

Leonora laughed, and, putting her red parasol 
between them, replied, “I am not the least bit 
afraid of you.” 

“You needn’t be. When we arrive at the 
hotel I will secure the services of a guide, and 
the captain of this boat says we can get an ex- 
perienced Japanese maid to attend you while 
traveling who can speak the English language.” 

“Oh, that is splendid,” said Leonora, “that is 
just the thing; I am happy now.” 

When Leonora went into the cabin to arrange 
her small parcels Huntington lit a cigar and as 
the ship approached the anchorage, ruminating, 
he said, “That girl is the sweetest, most amiable 
and loveable being I have met in all my travels ; 
she is a thoroughbred. You can just bet, old 
Huntington, you are to be her protector, and her 
protector in all that the name implies; such a 
brave thing she is,” and a tear stole down his 


38 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

sun-tanned cheek for the first time in a quarter 
of a century. 

Leonora admired Huntington; she saw in 
him a remarkable specimen of venturesome and 
enthusiastic manhood. He had been exceeding- 
ly kind and generous to her ever since they left 
Bermuda. Her every little demand or wish 
had been gratified. She admired such a nature, 
and the fact that he had produced an aeroplane 
that out-distanced anything of the kind ever 
thought of increased her admiration for him. 
Being a young woman of keen perception, she 
comprehended his noble character and trusted 
him implicitly from the hour they had met in 
Bermuda. So the situation was bearable after 
all. 

Huntington had invited the Merriweathers 
to dine with them that evening at the leading 
hotel in Nagasaki, and Mrs. Merriweather had 
gone with Leonora in search of the Japanese 
maid who could speak English. 

Leonora, dressed in a white silk dress recently 
fitted by the Peking tailors, and, with her dark 
brown hair decorated appropriately with roses, 
was indeed charming, and Huntington, not be- 
ing blind, was very proud of her. 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 39 

After dinner he invited the party to a Japanese 
theatrical performance, and next morning they 
bade good-bye to the Merriweathers. Learn- 
ing that the “Empress of Japan,” of the Can- 
adian Pacific line, would call at Nagasaki at 
noon, Huntington secured passage to Yokohama, 
as he desired that Leonora should view the in- 
land sea by daylight. 

The scenery was a compromise between the 
Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River, 
the Islands of the Georgian Bay, the Rhine and 
the Hudson. Leonora was delighted and 
wished the day would never end. The calm and 
beautiful blue water, the purple mountains in 
the distance, the green and sometimes sandy 
shore, the neat little odd-shaped dwellings of 
various hues and colors, and the numerous 
sampans and odd sailing craft met with made a 
vision of beauty which once witnessed can never 
be forgotten. 

“Are you happy, my dear little girl?” asked 
Huntington as they sat on the deck of the swift 
Canadian ship, which seemed to fly past the nu- 
merous islands of the famous Inland Sea. 

Katusha, the little Japanese maid, was sitting 
near by embroidering. Leonora never answered 


40 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

verbally, but a smile and gentle nod assured 
Huntington that an answer to his inquiry was 
unnecessary. 

“It not this the most beautiful trip in the 
world?” she asked. 

“It is said that in sunshiny, pleasant weather 
it is unsurpassed,” replied Huntington, “and I 
was thinking this morning that the silk dress, one 
of those the Peking tailors made for you, was a 
stunner. 

“Why should your thoughts run on such a sub- 
ject?” replied Leonora, laughing. “Men don’t 
usually notice such things.” 

“Because you looked like a dream in it.” 

“Oh, it is not half so pretty as this view. Come 
and sit here and see it. Katusha, you notice, is 
used to such scenery, she never looks up from her 
embroidery. Katusha learned embroidering in 
the American Mission School, and is making a 
colored lace collar which she intends to give 
me.” 

They were coming into the harbor of Yoko- 
hama. Fujiyama in the distance loomed up in 
the azure sky like a beautiful cloud. During 
the trip on the Canadian ship Huntington had 
not made his identity known, although the daily 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 41 

theme among the passengers was the new won- 
derful airship that had arrived at Tokio, having 
come from Bermuda in such a short space of 
time. Wireless messages had been received on 
board ship containing information of the 
elaborate reception accorded to the occupants of 
the airship, who had alighted in Ueno Park, 
Tokio, and who were that day to be the guests 
of the Mikado, to whom they were to explain 
the wonderful airship and the trip from the 
Bermudas. Almost the entire population of 
Tokio and Yokohama, these cities being only a 
few miles apart, had visited the airship during 
the day and night, and nothing had occasioned so 
much excitement since the days of the Russian 
war. Leonora was exceedingly pleased at the 
news, but Huntington appeared quite indifferent. 

“I would sooner be alone here on the deck 
with you, little girl, than to be feasted by all 
the crowned heads of Europe and presidents of 
Republics.” 

Leonora changed the conversation. “Do you 
think I can make Katusha understand what the 
airship is like?” 

“We will take her with us,” said Huntington, 
“when we sail again.” 


42 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

“Look out, now, sir; I have not said you could 
go up again,” replied Leonora, looking earnestly 
into Huntington’s ruddy face. 

Huntington was happy, but made no answer. 
When a wise man feels that a pretty woman is 
slightly interested in his welfare, he prefers at 
the time not to enter into any further explanation 
or argument or to ask any foolish questions, so 
he ordered the deck steward to bring some cake 
and tea for all, including Katusha. 

Leonora’s remark, however, pleased him 
wonderfully well. 

“The sweetest thing on earth,” he said, aside, 
as Leonora passed him a cup of steaming hot tea 
from an odd-shaped little Japanese teapot, and 
added a very square lump of white sugar. 

A suite of rooms had been engaged at the Im- 
perial Hotel, Tokio, for Leonora and maid, and 
Huntington remained in Yokohama one day to 
see the American Consul to arrange a trip 
through Japan and have their passports viseed. 
The meeting next morning of Carbonel, Childs, 
the engineer and motorman, with Huntington 
and Leonora was like a family reunion. All had 
plenty of news to relate and it was far into the 
night in a small club room in the Imperial be- 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 43 

fore they separated. It was decided by the au- 
thorities to permit the airship to rest in Ueno 
Park, which decision greatly pleased the citizens 
and the park superintendent, as it gave visitors to 
this beautiful place an additional pleasure. The 
engineer and motorman remained in charge 
daily to explain to the people the workings of 
the machinery and the construction of this crea- 
ture of science. The Mikado himself, together 
with several members of his court, and family, 
also many members of Parliament, honored 
them by a personal visit, and Admiral Yamato, a 
member of his cabinet who spoke English fluent- 
ly and was well versed in machinery, interpreted 
the statements made by Wilson, the engineer, 
and Carbonel. Childs also explained many in- 
teresting features of the airship. Huntington 
and Leonora were also the recipients of many 
courtesies, and the Empress presented Leonora 
with a beautiful string of pearls, saying, in Jap- 
anese, “You are a brave girl and a good repre- 
sentative of the fair sex of your wonderfully en- 
terprising country.” 

“How long may the ‘Bermuda’ remain in the 
park?” asked Carbonel of the official in charge. 


44 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

“A year, should you honor us with so long a 
visit,” the official answered. 

It was decided, therefore, that Carbonel and 
Childs should go to Manila for two months, 
Childs having a son who was an officer in an 
American regiment there, and Carbonel was in- 
terested in a plantation his uncle had bequeathed 
to his family. 


CHAPTER III 


H untington and Leonora had fully 
decided to take Katusha and travel by 
jinrikishas through Japan. Carbonel, 
Childs and the others were to meet them in To- 
kio in three months. They had not ascended 
over two miles high on their trip to Tokio 
in the airship. Leonora, ever since she over- 
heard the conversation between Childs and Car- 
bonel, had lost her venturesome spirit and de- 
cided never to ascend again, but she also admit- 
ted to herself that circumstances might change 
her determination. She had told Huntington 
afterwards that when Childs and Carbonel 
talked together she had overheard every word 
they said, but had decided at the time not to 
spread the alarm and not to tell Huntington, 
so she studied the map of China with Hunting- 
ton, while her ears were open towards the scien- 
tists. The more Huntington thought of Leonora 
and her many clever characteristics the more he 
became satisfied she was a young woman of great 
attainments. 

“She would not alarm me, the wise little sor- 


46 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

ceress,” he exclaimed. “Oh, she is everything to 
me.” 

Then he thought of all the promises he had 
made during his eventful career never to fall in 
love w^ith a woman and never to marry. Prom- 
ises he had faithfully kept. Thus ruminating 
he said, “Perhaps all this interest in Leonora 
will lead to trouble ; it usually does. Oh, I won’t 
marry anyone,” he said determinately, “and that 
is the end of it. I will only be friendly to this 
orphan child; I want some one in my life to 
cheer it. Leonora shall be my dear little friend 
only! only! only!” 

He was in an easy chair in his bedroom, and 
after the last only, dozed into unconsciousness. 
In a few minutes a gentle knock was heard at his 
door and Katusha appeared. 

“Missee ready go lunch ; she gone down.” 

Huntington awoke. Donning his coat, he 
found himself with eyes half open hurrying 
down the stairs of the Imperial towards the din- 
ing room. 

“I never jumped out of my chair like that 
before,” he said, “at the call of a woman.” 

As he neared the door of the dining room 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 47 

he remarked to himself, “Oh, I see I shall have 
to stop all this ; I am getting silly.” 

Katusha had engaged four of the fleetest 
footed jinrikisha men to be found and one for 
herself, and the two big valises which were be- 
ing firmly strapped to Katusha’s vehicle. They 
all started with a rush towards Yokahama. 
Huntington’s men took the lead and tried to out- 
run Leonora’s and Katusha’s, but found their 
match, for the little brown muscular men with 
their steel-like legs all trotted apace and never 
seemed to weary. When they had gone a dozen 
miles, however, Huntington ordered a halt and 
a rest and insisted that they should change men. 

After a run by train up to Nikko to see the 
magnificent temples, a couple of days at Yoka- 
hama, sightseeing and sailing on the bay, they 
were off on their long jaunt. 

“The first stop of importance,” said Hunting- 
ton, “after leaving Yokahama will be Kama- 
kura. We must see the great bronze image of 
Daibutsu.” 

As they passed along the avenue leading to 
the great image the jinrikisha men stopped un- 
der a large tree. 

“Icho tree,” said one. 


48 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


“A thousand years old,” said another. 

“See great big tree,” and all held up their 
hands. 

Leonora was dumbfounded at the size of the 
image. 

Huntington, though often having read ac- 
counts of this marvelous study in bronze, was 
also surprised, the height being SO feet and the 
circumference fully 100. The eyes of the great 
figure are pure gold. It was cast in sections, 
then brazed together and finished off on the out- 
side by chisels. It is said one hundred men could 
crowd inside the immense body. 

“It is one of the marvels of the world,” said 
Huntington. 

“What a calm expression there is on the face,” 
observed Leonora. 

“Yes,” replied Huntington; “it is said no Jap- 
anese god, image or figure conveys such an ex- 
pression of majesty. The intellectual calm you 
have noticed is supposed to come from perfect 
knowledge.” 

“It is a grand picture resting in the trees. Oh, 
how glad I am that we stopped here,” said Leo- 
nora enthusiastically. 

The little Jap men stood at the base of the 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 49 

immense figure to show by comparison its won- 
derful size. 

“We will have lunch at the Japanese inn 
‘Mitsuhashi.’ My boys say ‘good place,’ ‘any 
kind dinner you want’ ” 

“Hurrah for something to eat,” said Leonora. 
“The ride has given me quite an appetite.” 

After dinner they renewed their journey. The 
air was bracing and the sun was shining through 
the trees. 

“Now,” said Huntington, “if these little men 
persist they can run off a few miles before even- 
ing.” To which proposition Leonora gladly con- 
sented. 

On the wayside along the frequented roads of 
Japan jinrikisha men can be found at every 
village or stopping place. They drop into the 
shafts while the others return with tourists 
headed in the other direction. 

“Ten miles for a man to run at one time is 
enough, so we will string out our trip and make 
not more than ten miles in any one day. We will 
find plenty of stopping places on the way.” 

When Katusha explained this to them, the Jap 
runners laughed and made fun. 

“Easy, easy,” they said ; “too easy. Twenty 


50 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

miles a day little enough; get too fat,” said one, 
who was one mass of muscle, as he grinned dis- 
playing his white teeth. “Me run thirty miles 
a day easy.” 

“Never mind,” said Huntington, “let us start 
out on short trips. You will have two or more 
months of it, not get very fat I assure you.” 

Huntington weighed over 200 pounds, Leo- 
nora 120, and Katusha 86, so Huntington hit 
upon a plan which greatly amused the runners. 
Leonora and Katusha rode together, and the ex- 
tra jinrikisha contained the two valises, Katu- 
sha’s box and one Jap runner. They had taken 
five runners with them. Whenever one seemed 
slightly heated or lagged a little he was put in 
the extra jinrikisha with a rug around his shoul- 
ders and given a cup of tea. For the first few 
miles the Japs enjoyed this heartily, making con- 
tinual fun of the runner in the extra jinrikisha, 
whom they termed “tourist.” 

“This is simply delightful and nothing could 
be more interesting,” said Leonora. “I have al- 
ways longed to ride through Japan in a jinriki- 
sha,” she exclaimed as they passed through the 
pretty flower perfumed villages with their green 
trees and luxuriant grass and shrubbery. They 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 51 

had started out in a southwesterly direction, so 
as to secure a good view of the famous mountain 
Fuji-Yama. The artistic little villa residences 
of the natives were seen peeping out behind the 
trees. Off in the distance their eyes never tired 
looking at Fuji-Yama, a snowclad peak, resting 
away up in the azure sky, usually separated from 
the earth by a mist and known by the natives 
as “Sky Mountain.” The days indeed were de- 
lightful. The spring was now well advanced 
and the cherry blossoms and numerous flowers 
perfumed the highway and brightened their 
journey. Leonora was as happy as a young 
bird. She sang frequently and amused herself 
teaching Katusha snatches of American songs 
and to speak better English. 

The jinrikisha men climbed the hills appar- 
ently without exertion and trotted along the coun- 
try road perfectly satisfied with little extra tips 
provided by Huntington for every difficult 
mountain climb made during the day. The 
“tourist” always took a hand when ascending a 
steep incline, and made himself a leader. He 
placed around his shoulders a strap attached to 
a long rope and pulled on both Huntington and 
Leonora’s jinrikishas, which aided all the men 


52 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


to pull in unison. At the summit of the heavy 
incline the “tourist,” one mass of perspiration 
from his over exertion, would again enter the jin- 
rikisha to rest. It was noticed that during the 
race up the steep hills and mountains he pulled 
extra hard, so as to gain the good will of the 
other men. When they arrived at Numazu on 
the Suruga Bay they rested an entire day, as 
from this point a grand view of Fuji-Yama could 
be had. At Okitsu on the coast they stopped 
for lunch in a little wayside tea house out of the 
line of travel. The Jap women served them raw 
fish with pepper and salt, but Huntington and 
Leonora could not eat it. The little Jap women 
were surprised. They told Katusha to say that 
the fish had just been caught. In looking about, 
however, a small gas stove was discovered and 
a queer looking frying pan and Leonora soon 
had several fish frying in the pan, nicely 
browned, and added French fried potatoes and 
celery. The Jap women laughed as they watched 
Huntington and Leonora eat the fried fish. 

“Have some?” asked Huntington, putting a 
piece of fish on the end of his fork and present- 
ing it to a pretty little Jap girl. She shook her 
head, laughed and held her fingers to her nose. 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 53 

then shaking her head made a wry face. At 
Shizouka, a city, they remained three days ex- 
amining lacquer ware. The air from the Japan 
sea being to their taste, they journeyed along the 
coast to Hamamatsu, then followed the coast for 
a while till they journeyed northwest to Nagoya. 

Small cottages along the mountain sides with 
their tiny flower gardens attracted Leonora and 
they rested one night in a most singularly pic- 
turesque little bamboo cottage along the wayside. 
Here Katusha taught Leonora the Japanese 
names of all the flowers in the garden. 

As they chased through the beautiful valleys 
and climbed the mountains, wandering down 
into the interior of Japan, they viewed the real 
life of the natives in all their picturesque sim- 
plicity. They passed through old cities now 
building up with modern factories and making 
rapid strides in a commercial way. Numerous 
towns and villages along the route- also appeared 
to be new, thrifty and enterprising. The jin- 
rikisha men, well fed and contented, owing to 
what seemed to them the unlimited hospitality 
displayed by Huntington, longed to proceed 
more rapidly and display their agility. Leonora 
delighted in hearing Katusha tell the strange 


54 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

stories of the fairy side of the charming coun- 
tries they passed through day after day, glean- 
ing and gaining more knowledge of the habits 
and characteristics of the little sunny people 
from Katusha than she could have from the 
guide book. 

“At Nagoya,” said Huntington, “we will stay 
for a few days. Here, my young lady, you will 
find a flourishing commercial city, where we can 
buy the most beautiful fans in the world and 
the choicest cloisonne. We can get a lot of 
them and carry them in one of our valises; they 
are very small. Then we must see the castle and 
other interesting places. It will also give the 
jinrikisha men a good rest. They have bazaars, 
peep shows, story tellers on the street, queerest 
theatres in the world and everything that a live 
Japanese town possesses. Saco, one of my boys, 
said with a grin the other day when we talked 
about Nagoya, ‘Have much fun in Nagoya.’ ” 

“We will take it all in,” replied Leonora, 
laughing. “Katusha has been telling me all about 
the lovely fans and vases.” 

It was a delightful change when the little 
brown men whirled them up the flower lined 
drives to the entrance of the Shinashu, also 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 55 

known as the “Hotel du progress,” after the nu- 
merous little inns they had encountered on their 
trip. Leonora and Katusha were soon shown 
to beautiful apartments and a change of suits 
appeared a blessing, for the last few miles were 
rather dusty. Katusha put on her new kimono 
with an embroidered crest representing her fam- 
ily heraldry on the back thereof. Leonora ap- 
peared at dinner in one of her Chinese tailor 
made suits of white serge. 

“I like a city,” said Huntington. 

“Yes, but those who live in a city always enjoy 
the country,” said Leonora, smiling. 

They spent several interesting days in Nagoya 
and found the city progressive and far in ad- 
vance of many towns they had passed through. 

Leaving Nagoya the Jap runners begged to be 
permitted to make better time. “All right,” said 
Huntington, “as the roads are level, you can 
trot along as fast as you like for a time.” 

“It is only a short run to Gifu, and I would 
like to see fishermen catch fish with cormorants.” 

“Nonsense,” said Leonora, “fish with birds?” 

Arriving at Gifu the Japanese runners, hav- 
ing made the eighteen miles in less than five 
hours, Huntington at times objecting to their 


56 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


long run, but they claimed they had a good rest 
at Nagoya and could make thirty miles that day 
easily. 

Another trip to the Tamagawa and they wit- 
nessed an interesting spectacle. Two cormorants 
are kept at the ferry house at Sekido and Hunt- 
ington engaged the birds and the fisherman to 
perform. Strings were tied to the birds and the 
fisherman waited about to relieve them of their 
prey. The fish usually caught were small and 
sometimes so small that Leonora and Katusha 
were greatly amused as the fisherman passed the 
little minnows caught by the cormorants and 
handed them over to Huntington. 

From Gifu they traveled on to Lake Biwa, 
stopping at little inns along the beautiful lake 
and enjoying the visits in the cottages of the 
simple inhabitants, the scenery at all times being 
ever changing and interesting. They hated to 
leave beautiful and picturesque Lake Biwa. At 
last they arrived at Kyoto, the former capital of 
Japan, and here they discovered the people were 
more primitive and childlike than those living 
in the treaty ports and the new capital, Tokio. 
Here were the ancient palaces, now deserted, and 
remnants of bygone ancestral buildings, almost 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 57 

toppling over with age. This was old Japan, 
in Tokio, Yokahama, Nagoya and Nagasaki 
they had found new ideas, cities in a higher state 
of development and advancement. These repre- 
sented modern Japan. 

Days and weeks had passed tranquilly until one 
day Huntington, after consulting a small calen- 
dar, remarked “Time is up, and we must return 
to Tokio. I will settle with all the jinrikisha 
men in the morning and we will take the train 
back to Tokio.” 

The ride on the new railway coaches from 
Kyoto to Tokio was exceedingly enjoyable and 
Leonora listened attentively to Katusha, who 
explained to her the condition of the various 
countries through which they passed, Katusha 
having acquired considerable knowledge in the 
native school. 


CHAPTER IV 


I T WAS a bright sunny day when the big 
airship, which since their departure had 
been stationed in Ueno Park, Tokio, was 
about to get under way. A vast crowd had as- 
sembled. Huntington had thought of proposing 
to Leonora to return to America by steamship, 
leaving the others to care for the Bermuda, but 
a slight episode changed his mind. As Leonora, 
Childs, Carbonel and Huntington were dining 
together at the Imperial Hotel, Carbonel had 
stated that a cable had arrived from Manila, giv- 
ing the information that a fearful commercial 
panic had started in the New York stock mar- 
ket and was spreading over the United States 
like a prairie fire. That many large firms and 
corporations believed to have been impregnable 
financially had failed and numerous banks sup- 
posed to be thoroughly solvent had been com- 
pelled to close their doors, and notwithstanding 
the fact that the government had issued millions 
upon millions to loan the national banks to tide 
them over, they were unable to avert the panic, 
and the entire country was in a state of unrest 
and tremendous losses were of daily occurrence. 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 59 

Stocks and bonds had depreciated beyond all 
expectation and the bottom had fallen out of all 
securities. The hot air millionaires who had 
been living high on paper equities, questionable 
margins and vapor like ideas of their own finan- 
cial significance, had found themselves worse off 
than paupers, because they had up to date been 
pampered and well fed. Huntington had by 
chance overheard a little remark made at the 
table by Leonora which pleased him more than 
the news of the panic dismayed him. Carbonel, 
sitting next to Leonora, had asked her if she 
would dare another trip in the airship and she 
replied, laughing, “I would fly to Mars or to the 
moon if it were possible if Mr. Huntington in- 
sisted I should go.” 

This casual remark sent a thrill of joy through 
Huntington’s heart, and his scheme for sending 
Leonora home by the water route was imme- 
diately abandoned. 

“Mademoiselle, you are indeed brave; I ad- 
mire your courage. At most an aeronaut can 
be killed but once,” the famous aeronaut 
replied. 

“Then I suppose we shall all return together. 
This time we cross the great Atlantic, or I should 


60 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

say the Atlantic will pass under us like a great 
flying cloud of blue and green.” 

While Huntington sat opposite, he was rumi- 
nating about Leonora’s remark. 

“What care I,” he said to himself, “if all my 
possessions, stocks, bonds and bank deposits, are 
gone if I have gained such a creature as 
Leonora?” 

It was a gala day in Tokio when the Bermuda 
with many flags flying, especially a huge Jap- 
anese national flag spread out from the car, and 
which caused no end of cheering from the mul- 
titude, prepared to ascend. Did you ever notice 
the cheers of the Japanese, or for that matter 
any other nationality, are similar. Who would 
know or distinguish them from the cheering of 
a great American crowd? 

Professor Childs had been very reticent all the 
morning. He believed some one had tampered 
with his chemicals. Wilson said that such a 
thing would have been impossible, for he and 
the motorman had slept in the car every night 
and when absent they had put reliable police- 
men, sent from the Imperial Guard, in charge 
of the car which was never unlocked. 

The sky had appeared dark in the south all 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


61 


the morning, and huge flakes of peculiar leaden 
colored clouds appeared to be arising from the 
southwest. 

“It is an approaching typhoon,” said Car- 
bbnel, “but we will soon soar above it.” 

“I have worked on the machinery of the big 
spiral propeller all day,” said Wilson. “I am 
sure she will work like she did before, but I 
notice a peculiar dampness or moisture in the 
atmosphere, and while I do not desire to cause 
any alarm, I am afraid the spiral screw is not 
making over half the revolutions it should.” 

“Well,” said Huntington, “we can go above 
the storm center anyway.” 

“Yes, above an ordinary storm,” said Car- 
bonel. 

“An ordinary storm,” remarked Childs, lean- 
ing over his huge steel box. “A typhoon is the 
most treacherous of all windstorms. I do not 
know how we can make headway against it. If 
we can get up before it strikes us, all well and 
good.” 

Katusha whispered to Leonora, “Typhoon 
much bad, but Katusha not afraid if Missee not 
afraid.” 


62 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


“Good girl,” said Leonora, patting her on the 
shoulder. “I will be as brave as possible.” 

The black clouds seemed to rush toward them 
at a terrific speed, and they soon found them- 
selves scudding along at a 70-mile pace. “We 
are going northwesterly,” said Carbonel. “We 
will land in Siberia should we fail to ascend.” 

The great ship, now a mile high, failed to 
respond to its rudder and steering gear. Black 
clouds came nearer and nearer and roared under 
the car, making a terrifying noise as the wind 
rattled through the rigging and windows. 

“She will not ascend further,” said Wilson. “I 
have full power on and she is drifting, only 
drifting.” 

The motorman endeavored to steer, but the 
whirling wind drove them out of their course. 

“We are headed northwest,” said Carbonel. 

Soon a crash occurred. As the black cloud 
struck the airship part of one side of the car 
caved in, and the flying glass cut the faces and 
hands of the occupants, but did no serious dam- 
age. By night they had crossed the Japan Sea 
and were nearing Siberia. 

“Drop to the floor of the car,” sang out Car- 
bonel, “drop and hide your faces; we will soon 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 63 

have other panes smashed in as the typhoon in- 
creases. However, it will soon drift out to sea 
and we are nearing Vladivostok. 1 he typhoon 
will work northerly and we will soon be out of 
its grasp.” 

Carbonel was right. Another smash came. In 
another hour the black cloud moved northerly 
and the motor worked more easily. The air- 
ship again obeyed the direction of the motor- 
man. Huntington deemed it better to alight 
away from the sea and repair the car before at- 
tempting to continue on their journey upward. 

“Well,” he said with his usual sangfroid, “we 
did not get up in time, that’s all. We will rest 
in Siberia a week or two and repair me car.” 

Carbonel shuddered as he thought of Siberia 
as a resting place. At one time he had been 
arrested as a spy, he being then in the employ 
of the Japanese at the time of the Japanese- 
Russian war, and was sentenced to work out the 
balance of his life in the mines of Siberia, but 
the fact that he was the only experienced aero- 
naut in Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, saved him. He 
had been employed by the Japanese to ascertain 
the number of Russian troops being transported 
towards Japan, and had made numerous ascen- 


64 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

sions in gas balloons. He was the only one who 
could make an ascension satisfactory to the gov- 
ernment in this section. He was therefore com- 
pelled in fetters to journey to Korea in a large 
balloon and ascertain the whereabouts of the 
Japanese troops. Watching his opportunity he 
chloroformed his guards in the balloon, and cut- 
ting his fetters, landed in a small town west of 
Port Arthur over the Korean line. His Russian 
guards were soon turned over to the Japanese 
authorities as prisoners of war and Carbonel was 
given transportation back to France. 

A strange expression crossed Carbonel’s face. 
He said, “I have been in Siberia before.” 

Believing that there was small chance of his 
being identified again, he resolved to say noth- 
ing about his former exploit to his companions. 

A spy against the Russian government is never 
forgiven, and as Carbonel was a Frenchman and 
not a Japanese, the settlement between Japan and 
Russia did not exonerate him. He therefore de- 
cided to keep close and say nothing and show 
himself as little as possible. Their airship after 
several hours’ progress inwardly from the sea 
alighted at Blagovestchensk, a town on the 
Amour River about 500 miles northwest of 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 65 

Vladivostok in the Russian Empire. Numerous 
citizens of all kinds and conditions surrounded 
them, watching with curious eyes as the Ber- 
muda sank gently to the solid earth. The place 
chosen was a small plain near the center of the 
town, and curious police and officers on horse- 
back were soon collected, demanding the mean- 
ing of their singular arrival. 

“We came from Mars,” said Huntington, 
slightly annnoyed at their persistency. 

Carbonel being the only one who understood 
the Russian language, spoke seldom, answering 
in monosyllables. He explained that they were 
on their way to America and had left Peking 
several weeks prior to their arrival, deeming it 
best to omit any reference to their visit to Japan, 
and he said that they had been blown by a tor- 
nado over 1,000 miles out of their course. The 
mayor of the town, after receiving a short ex- 
planatory note written by Carbonel and signed 
by Huntington stating they were Americans, de- 
cided to receive them graciously and grant them 
all the aid in his power in repairing the airship. 

Carbonel, togged out in a blue smock bor- 
rowed from the motorman, kept himself busy 
working on the car. One day Wilson noticed 


66 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

Carbonel turned ashy white while assisting him. 
Several citizens were looking on while they 
worked. 

“Mon Dieu,” exclaimed the aeronaut as he 
caught a glance at the face watching him. “It 
is Krosnoi, the guard, as I am alive.” 

Carbonel tried to force the color back to his 
cheeks. Krosnoi, who appeared old and hag- 
gard, merely looked on at the work, apparently 
never suspecting that before him was the man 
who had caused him a most miserable existence 
for weary months in prison, and after which, 
upon his return at the close of the war, he was 
additionally punished for permitting Carbonel 
(under the name of Jean Tobolsky, a supposed 
Russian) to escape. Krosnoi could never give 
a reasonable account of Tobolsky’s escape, being 
chloroformed into a helpless condition at the 
time. He never could understand why his senses 
had left him, and the Russian general refused 
to forgive him. Krosnoi had no friendly feel- 
ing for his government, but he hated Jean Tobol- 
sky and always looked forward with a dim hope 
that some day he might meet and destroy him. 

Carbonel kept his face away from the careless 
gaze of Krosnoi as much as possible, and in a 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


67 


few minutes resumed his work as composedly 
as ever. 

■ “He certainly cannot recognize me,” said Car- 
bonel, “at the time I wore a full beard, now I am 
changed so completely. He will n,ot recognize 
me.” 

But hate in the breast of an ignorant and un- 
forgiving Cossack never dies, and for years Kros- 
noi had carried the image of the Frenchman con- 
tinually before him. He dreamed of him and 
whenever he received the sneers and snubs of 
his fellows, because of his being an ex-convict, 
he growled like a dog wishing he could only 
meet that scoundrel Tobolsky again. 

It was weeks before the Bermuda’s elaborate 
cabin was repaired. Professor Childs had diffi- 
culty in replenishing some of his tanks, as 
through ignorance of the local apothecaries he 
was afraid to rely on their aid in making up his 
wonderful concoction. He was very careful in 
the gases to be used to adapt space to the require- 
ments of the lungs of his companions and him- 
self. 

Carbonel thought at one time it might be bet- 
ter for him to disguise himself and make an at- 
tempt to catch some passing boat on the Amour 


68 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

River and get out of the country, knowing that 
should Krosnoi identify him before the airship 
was ready to ascend he would be lost. Upon 
second consideration, however, he decided that 
by working day and night the Bermuda would 
soon get under way and they would make their 
ascent into the clouds and soon be beyond the 
reach of his enemy. 

Delays are always dangerous. Why should 
this man come again? Was it some peculiar 
magnetism that drew him to the spot? Every 
morning now the old bent, gray-haired Krosnoi 
hobbled over to the small plot of ground to wit- 
ness the repairs on the airship. He never spoke. 
He never asked a question. When Carbonel 
spoke to the Russian carpenters who were em- 
ployed to help repair the car Krosnoi merely 
looked up with a wondering gaze, thinking in 
his dull way, no doubt, it was strange that this 
American should speak the Russian language. 

Again Krosnoi appeared on the scene. It was 
early morning. This time he moved about so 
he could catch a glimpse of Carbonel’s face. He 
said nothing, however, and did not appear to 
trace any resemblance to his former associate in 
the runaway balloon. 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 69 

“Why is it,” thought Krosnoi, “I am so inter- 
ested in that man?” 

That night he decided to report the incident 
to the captain in charge of the small company 
of soldiers stationed at Blagovestchensk, of the 
peculiar idea he had respecting the man work- 
ing on the airship. 

“How did he learn the Russian language?” 
he asked the captain. He was the same height 
and size as the spy who broke away from him 
during the Japanese war, but he admitted he 
could not identify him. A full description of 
the aeronaut would appear in the court records 
where Tobolsky was tried at Irkutsk, and the 
captain immediately wrote for the information. 

Huntington, Leonora and Katusha passed the 
time driving about the rough roads in a very 
peculiar vehicle, but enjoying the quaint customs 
and manners of the Russian peasants. 

Childs was experimenting with his gases and 
was constructing a peculiar machine to contain 
a new gas he had invented. It was composed 
mostly of ether. He believed that should they 
at any time alight in a country where the natives 
might prove dangerous or should they settle 
down in a jungle wherein there were wild beasts 


70 


A Thousand Miles An Horn- 


which might attack them, he could set every- 
thing within a short range outside of the airship 
to sleep and thus they could find time to escape. 


CHAPTER V 


W HEN the news came back from Irkutsk, 
a complete description and rude tin- 
type of Carbonel were enclosed and ad- 
dressed to the captain. Carbonel overheard as 
he worked remarks which led him to believe that 
he had been identified. That evening while on 
his way to meet Huntington, who had sauntered 
down the street with Leonora and Katusha, he 
was approached by three soldiers and placed un- 
der arrest. Consternation filled the hearts of all 
except Childs. He said nothing but looked wise. 

“What shall we do?” asked Huntington. “I 
doubt if bail would be accepted, and there is no 
American consul nearer than 100 miles.” 

“Remember,” said Childs, “Carbonel is a 
Frenchman, and he was a spy.” 

“Yes, true enough,” replied Huntington, “but 
we must stand by him; he is one of our party.” 
Childs signaled Huntington to his side. 
Leonora was greatly grieved and wept. 
“Poor fellow,” she said. Siberia, ugh!” and she 
shrugged her shoulders at the very thought. 

“Now,” said Childs, “there is one way to aid 
Carbonel.” 


72 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


“Probably by paying a large ransom?” asked 
Huntington. 

“I fear not,” said Childs. “We might all be 
arrested for suggesting it. Leave this matter to 
me,” said Childs, peremptorily. “Say nothing 
and find out where he will be placed in prison.” 

Huntington noticed as the evening approached 
a strong guard had been placed in the vicinity 
of the airship and that they were being carefully 
guarded. Leonora wanted Huntington to make 
an attempt to see Carbonel and ascertain fully 
the charges against him. 

Childs objected. “Stay away,” he said. “If 
you do anything inform the captain of the guard 
as well as you can how he came to be employed 
to run the airship, simply as a skilled aeronaut; 
that we knew nothing of his past history, appear 
as indifferent as possible and say very little.” 

The guard house or temporary prison in which 
Carbonel was held was three short blocks from 
the location of the airship. 

“We had better work diligently to get her 
ready,” said Childs, “the sooner the better; de- 
lays are dangerous.” 

“I shall not leave,” said Huntington until he 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 73 

is released. I will fight all I know how legally 
for him.” 

“Nonsense,” said Childs, “ ‘legally.’ Do you 
know, man, that you are in Russia? What chance 
have we to protect Carbonel from such a charge, 
being a spy, and having been convicted also? 
Now,” said Childs, whispering to Huntington, 
“I have a plan better than fighting ‘legally’ or 
any other way. Let Leonora and her maid wan- 
der about and ascertain if possible the exact loca- 
tion of the cell in which Carbonel is confined, 
the kind of bars on the windows, the kind of 
fetters, if any, the number of guards in the jail, 
and all the news they can secure without attract- 
ing any attention, and let me know.” 

The next morning Leonora and Katusha drove 
about in a little cart and soon ascertained the 
whereabouts of the residence of the keeper of 
the prison. At the door sat a young girl. 

“Good morning,” said Leonora, presenting 
her with the flower she held in her hand. “Do 
you speak English?” 

“A little,” the girl said. “I worked for a 
while in an English family. I was a nurse. It 
was in Vladivostok.” 


74 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

“Can you come for a ride with us?” asked 
Leonora. 

“I must ask mother first,” the girl said. 

The mother stood on the small porch eyeing 
the queer people who came in the balloon, never 
suspecting their errand. She evidently gave her 
consent and smiled at Olga. The cart had two 
seats, and Katusha took one, while Leonora and 
Olga sat together and talked upon various topics. 

“Yes, I am sorry my father had to take the 
poor man to prison,” and the conversation turned 
on the prisoner in jail. 

“He is not a relative?” asked Olga. 

“No, no,” said Leonora, “he worked for us 
in the airship, that’s all. 

“Three men take care of the prisoners,” said 
Olga, innocently. “There are only four in jail 
now besides the new prisoner. They had hand- 
cuffs on at first, but are not chained down or 
handcuffed now, except one. My father does 
not like to chain them unless ordered to do so. 
Mr. Olesky, my father, always locks the door 
at night and mother always keeps the keys when 
he is away.” And so the young girl innocently 
told all she knew about her father’s occupation 
and the prisoners in the jail. 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 75 

Carbonel, when arrested years ago, stood his 
trial and had been convicted and ordered to Si- 
beria to serve out his sentence. No retrial was 
necessary, as he had been identified thoroughly 
by this time by Krosnoi and the captain. 

When the news got out that a spy had been 
caught all the residents seemed to look with dis- 
favor on the aerial visitors. 

“Is she ready to start?” Childs inquired of 
Wilson. 

“Quite so,” said Wilson; “we can go in ten 
minutes. I will do as you say,” continued Wil- 
son, “Mr. Huntington said you were now in com- 
mand, and I am at your service.” 

“Is she ready at a second’s notice?” asked 
Childs. “Ten minutes won’t do.” 

“She is, sir.” 

“Tonight,” said Childs as he was discussing 
the situation with Huntington, “we must leave 
with or without Carbonel. I think with him.” 

“How will you work it?” asked Huntington. 
“Must we have outside help?” 

“No! no! no! They are a treacherous lot,” 
said Childs. “We must keep our plan a dead 
secret. I will tell you what I propose to do. I 
want Miss Leonora, if she will, to take this small 


76 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

casket to the jailer’s wife. She will have the 
keys of the jail after 8 P. M. in her room hang- 
ing on a hook behind her bedroom door. Under 
some pretense she must get face to face with this 
woman, open the lid of the casket slightly and 
the woman will immediately lose consciousness. 
Then she must get the keys, throw them over 
the wall to Wilson, who will be stationed within 
a few feet of the house. He, in turn, will hand 
them to Nelson, who will rush in when the door 
is open and open the inside jail door. Leonora 
must then walk out across the vacant lot and 
around to the airship.” 

“Perilous undertaking,” said Huntington. “I 
hate to have her try it.” 

The jailer’s little girl that night had been in- 
vited out to a small party and Leonora, who 
was in the good graces of the family, proposed 
to help her dress. 

“They will never suspect,” said Leonora, “but 
I want to know is this drug harmless?” 

“Perfectly,” said Childs. “In ten minutes she 
will be as well as she ever was in her life.” 

Huntington shook his head. “I don’t mind 
trying on any kind of a game you may suggest. 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 77 

professor, but for Leonora, no, no; it must 
not be.” 

“There is no danger,” said Childs, quietly. 

“Why not?” said Huntington. 

“Because I will be there myself,” said the 
professor. “I have arranged tonight to help Ole- 
sky, the jail keeper, recharge some batteries. He 
is inventing a new kind of lamp so he can light 
the jail by touching a button, and visits the air- 
ship while we are working to get my advice quite 
often.” 

“I will do it,” said Leonora, with a determined 
expression. “I hope it will not hurt Olga.” 

Childs shook his head. “I tell you it is posi- 
tively harmless, but keep your own nose away 
from the casket. Open it with the top away from 
you.” 

Leonora strapped the little casket about her 
shoulders as if it was a small traveling bag. It 
was locked and the key was on the outside. 

Olesky was pleased and honored at Childs’ 
visit. As Childs left the airship he again in- 
quired earnestly if everything was ready. Wil- 
son and Nelson replied in the affirmative. 

“When we return,” said Childs, “let her go 
full power on at my signal.” 


78 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

Leonora, after arranging Olga’s dress, to 
which she added a beautiful ribbon, asked Olga 
to smell the nice perfume in the casket. She did 
so and in a few seconds was gently sleeping on a 
small couch in her room. Mrs. Olesky had just 
called Olga in to have her show herself. She 
met Leonora at the door. “See,” said Leonora, 
pointing to the casket which was open. Imme- 
diately the woman put her hands before her eyes 
and staggered to her room, where she sank in 
her bed perfectly unconscious of her surround- 
ings. Leonora, quick as thought, snatched the 
heavy ring of keys, threw them over the wall 
where Wilson stood and, running out through 
the hallways, passed the room where Childs and 
Olesky were, opened a small gate, crossed the 
vacant land and in a very few minutes was back 
to the airship. She heard a strange murmur 
from several guards nearby as she unlocked the 
main entrance of the airship and passed in, her 
heart palpitating wildly all the while. Leonora 
found Katusha sitting on the floor of the car 
hemming a handkerchief. Huntington had 
waited at the back door of the jailer’s house and 
had followed her stealthily all the way back, but 
she had not seen him. He held a magazine re- 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 79 

volver in his hand and had decided at first, if 
necessary, to drop the man who offered to stop 
her, but upon second consideration decided it 
would raise an alarm. 

“Safe,” he said, as he clasped Leonora in his 
arms. He closed the door of the airship. 

“Now let us watch for results.” 

“See Katusha,” said Leonora, “calm as a sum- 
mer day.” 

Childs heard Leonora pass the door in the 
jailer’s house and immediately gave Olesky his 
dose. The old jailer straightened out and lean- 
ing over the bench on which he was sitting was 
soon in dreamland. 

Knowing that Leonora had performed her er- 
rand, Childs quickly passed through the jail 
doors, and as he touched the sleeping guard he 
sprayed a little of his new concoction on his face 
which sent him immediately into a deep sleep. 
Carbonel, Wilson and Nelson were gone and 
the professor immediately retraced his steps, but 
came plump into the hands of a bewildered 
guard, whose duty it was to release the watch at 
the jail door at that particular hour. Childs 
touched his hat and raising a paper as if to show 
the guard, he made a sign for the astonished 


80 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


man to read, but the fellow reeled over on the 
ground and his head fell over to one side. 

“He is safe now,” said the professor. Childs 
remembering that time was up, ran as fast as 
his legs would carry him across the vacant lot. 
Passing another guard, who demanded him to 
stop, he merely saluted him and held before 
his face the same paper supposed to be a pass- 
port from the captain, but it made no difference 
to the guard what it was. He sat down on the 
grass at once and lolled over on his side. Within 
a minute Childs was within the car of the air- 
ship. 

“All here?” exclaimed Childs, excitedly. “Let 
her go!” 

Nelson and Wilson turned on full power, but 
a rush was made for the car by several guards 
who had been notified not to let the airship 
depart without the knowledge of the chief-of- 
police. 

“I will fix them,” said Childs, throwing out 
quite an amount of his concoction through one 
of the open windows of the car. 

There was a dead silence. The soldiers sank 
on their knees in a helpless condition. The big 
airship creaked and strained. Within twenty 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 81 

seconds she was nearly out of reach of bullets. A 
thump was heard as a rifle ball struck the steel 
bottom of the airship. Then another and an- 
other. Huntington jumped to his feet as a pane 
crashed in. 

“I am struck,” he said, raising his left arm. 
True enough, a spent ball had cut the outside 
tissues of his arm. Leonora quickly bared his 
arm and, rolling up his sleeve, was about to 
bandage the wounded spot. 

“Not badly hurt,” she said. “Oh, I hope and 
pray you are not badly hurt.” 

“Get in the middle of the car,” said Childs. 
“We may have some more of this. Keep away 
from the windows, put on all the power you 
can.” 

“We are now over a mile high,” said Car- 
bonel. “Thank God, and there is no more 
danger.” 

“Why,” said Huntington, smiling, “that 
wound of mine is not worth binding. There is 
no blood. See how it skimmed along my arm.” 

Leonora laughed. “It left a red mark and 
that is all.” 

“And here is the cause of it,” said Carbonel, 


82 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

picking up a flat piece of lead from the bottom 
of the car. 

“Oh, I am so glad,” said Leonora, “we have 
have had so much excitement we certainly do not 
want to have any one wounded.” 

“My arm feels merely as though I had been 
struck with a cane. Even the redness is dis- 
appearing. No slings, no splints, I am thankful 
for that. Siberia will soon be far away, Car- 
bonel, so you can change your thoughts to some- 
thing else.” 

“Well,” said Leonora to Huntington, “I be- 
lieve you were always fond of excitement, per- 
haps you got enough of it this time.” 

Carbonel was so grateful that it was several 
hours before he was himself. He thanked them 
all over and over again for his well planned 
release. Tears frequently filled his eyes. 

“Mon Dieu!” he would say, “such a life. Bet- 
ter dead a hundred times than five years in the 
mines of Siberia.” 

“Never mind,” said Huntington, “if all goes 
well by tomorrow we will be in the land of the 
free, exempt at least from the brutality of a 
country which seldom distinguishes between 
guilty and not guilty when a purpose must be 
served.” 


CHAPTER VI 


“TT AM favorably impressed with my new 

I sedative,” said Childs. “I hope they have 
all fairly recovered by this time.” 

“Poor Olga,” said Leonora, “I wonder if she 
went to the party.” 

“Dancing is not always the best thing for 
young girls,” said the professor dryly. “In ten or 
fifteen minutes, however, she would be perfectly 
conscious and unless the excitement about the 
escape of the airship was too general, Olga may 
have gone to the party late.” 

“I wonder what the papers will say tomor- 
row?” remarked Huntington. 

“They will not say a word,” said Carbonel; 
“they are mostly socialistic and nihilistic and any 
comments they might make would be to ridicule 
the soldiers for permitting Carbonel to escape in 
the airship. I suppose my old friend Krosnoi is 
quite unhappy.” 

“Let us all forget it,” said Leonora, and she 
struck up a popular American song in which all 
but Professor Childs joined. The professor kept 
on experimenting with his new concoction and 


84 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

had given Carbonel a very slight whiff of it to 
quiet his nerves. 

“We are too far north,” said Carbonel, “but 
we are far enough away from the guns of the 
soldiers, 6,000 miles at least.” 

“We must descend to gravitation and work 
south until we reach the line of New York.” 

“Please don’t try any changes now,” said 
Leonora, “we are happy enough.” 

“You know my dear young lady when up as 
high as we are we only follow one line of lati- 
tude and cannot deviate from that line without 
coming down to a point where the earth com- 
mences to attract the air ship. When you made 
the great trip to San Francisco you could zig-zag 
with the currents of air or you could guide your 
air ship by the stearing gear. We are now not 
moving in the least. It does seem difficult to be- 
lieve this, I know.” 

“That suits me,” said Huntington. “I want 
to stop in New York and see how poor I have 
become since the panic. Having been up for 
some time, what provisions have we, landlady?” 
asked Huntington of Leonora. 

“Owing to the sudden and unexpected depart- 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 85 

ure of the Bermuda,” said Leonora, “we have an 
exceedingly small stock. We have plenty of cof- 
fee, tea, sugar and condensed milk, but no fresh 
reindeer.” 

“Whew,” said Huntington, making a wry 
mouth. “I am glad of that; I hate reindeer. 
Any kind of food but reindeer.” 

“We have apples, cheese, dried prunes, flour 
for biscuit,” continued Leonora, “and the pro- 
fessor always helps me cook them without a fire, 
you know. We have some Blagovestchensk 
brown bread which I bought from the little 
grocery near where we were, but it was very 
hard.” 

“Hard?” said Huntington. “Why, you can 
scarcely cut it with an ax.” 

“Oh, yes we can, now,” said Leonora. “The 
professor ameliorated the component parts with 
a touch of something from his new box, and it 
is as soft as mush. We have pounds of ginger 
snaps, too, and several pounds of figs.” 

“But the occupants of the car looked hungry 
and shook their heads as Leonora ran over the 
schedule of left-over things, nothing appealed to 
them. 

“Let us alight in a good farming district and 


86 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

replenish the cupboard,” said Huntington. “We 
can get something to eat.” 

Carbonel’s eyes brightened at the prospect. 
In the jail he had eaten but a few scraps. His 
appetite had fled. A future worse than death 
stared him in the face, and he had contemplated 
suicide. 

China, the Caspian Sea, Turkey in Asia, had 
within a few hours passed under them and 
Huntington announced that they were over the 
Adriatic Sea, nearing Italy. 

They descended south of Naples, in a farming 
district. A fair was in progress and the arrival 
of the great airship failed to attract much atten- 
tion. A lively dirigible balloon race had oc- 
curred the day previous, Italy having caught the 
aerial fever. 

“Lucky,” said Huntington. “I have just told 
a citizen we came from Rome. He said he 
wanted a camera view of our craft in the morn- 
ing, but we will be in New York City soon, so 
he won’t get it.” 

Leonora at Huntington’s request had covered 
the name “Bermuda” on the car and had con- 
cealed all evidence of their rapid trip from Si- 
beria. Fame, however, travels fast, for upon 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 87 

their arrival at New York the news of the escape 
of the airship from Siberia had been sent to Eng- 
land and cabled to America. 

It was about evening when the great airship 
alighted in the suburbs of Brooklyn a little over 
a mile from Coney Island. It consumed con- 
siderable time to find a suitable landing. Crowds 
commenced to gather around them, as thousands 
from all over that section of the country had 
witnessed the strange object in the skies. Hun- 
dreds struggled for positions immediately sur- 
rounding the big airship. 

“It is as bad as Peking,” said Leonora, while 
poor little Katusha hid her face and refused to 
look out, fully expecting guns would be fired at 
them like in Siberia. When suitable arrange- 
ments had been made for the anchorage and 
care of the ship, Huntington, Leonora and Katu- 
sha engaged a taxicab and were soon comfort- 
ably lodged at the Waldorf. 

“Now,” said Huntington to Leonora, “after 
we have had a good dinner, I want you to meet 
me in the private parlor and listen to my woes. 
I will discover what has become of all my stocks, 
bonds, cash and other assets, swallowed up pos- 
sibly in the late financial earthquake.” 


'A Thousand Miles An Hour 


Leonora laughed. “What matters it,” she said 
gaily. “Do you know I have been thinking that 
we can exhibit the airship in Madison Garden 
or some such place, and you can make a fortune 
in a few months.” 

“It might be like Cook’s discovery of the north 
pole perhaps,” said Huntington. “They may not 
credit our story.” 

“If they don’t, I am sure Mr. Carbonel will 
not care to return to Russia to prove it,” replied 
Leonora. “But I am really in earnest. Such 
things have happened before. The public will 
want to see the great airship and ascertain how 
it was operated.” 

“Good girl,” said Huntington. “A bright idea, 
anyway. Now sit here. I am going to telephone 
Bartlett, my New York stock broker, for the 
news. Sit near me and brace me up. I need it.” 

“I want Stephen K. Bartlett, 4210 Central 
Park.” 

“Who is it?” asked Bartlett at the other end 
of the wire. 

“Don’t you know my voice?” said Hunting- 
ton. 

“Oh, goodness where on earth did you come 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 89 

from? I have been wiring you all over the 
world. When did you leave Russia?” 

“Never mind,” said Huntington, “I am here 
now at the Waldorf. How is the market?” 

“Market? Haven’t you heard? Everything 
is gone to smash. All your securities are down 
so low that you can scarcely see them with a spy 
glass.” 

“Why didn’t you sell them?” said Huntington. 

“Sell them? Why, man, we could not sell a 
million dollar bond for a slice of gooseberry 
pie.” 

Huntington laughed at the idea. “It is good 
to hear you laugh, anyway, John. It is brave of 
you. Well, I might as well tell you. The way the 
thing looks now as far as I can figure it, you are 
a ruined man. The banks called in all your 
loans and your then valuable securities were sold 
for less than twenty cents on the dollar. I had 
to let them go. Half the big banks in the coun- 
try have failed. Only those who held real estate 
securities are doing business. Many of the rail- 
roads are running, but they can hardly pay op- 
erating expenses. Stocks and bonds of every 
class and grade are nearly worthless. Why, there 
was some talk the other day of temporarily clos- 


90 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

ing down the hotel you are in, as it is running 
behind daily. Your new building is all right 
and there are only a few vacant apartments in it. 
It is the only thing that has not depreciated. The 
rents are being paid up better than I expected 
they would be, and here you will have consid- 
erable available cash to your credit, the agent 
says.” 

“Well, that is a good point; give us some more 
of that.” 

“I will call and see you this evening,” said 
Bartlett, “and tell you all the news.” 

Huntington hung up the telephone, rested his 
hands on his knees and Leonora earnestly 
watched the expression on his face. He remained 
seated for a full minute, then arising with his 
arms uplifted, he exclaimed with a chuckle, 
“Leonora, after all I was only a ‘hot air mil- 
lionaire.’ ” 

“Never mind,” said Leonora, catching the 
lapel of his coat in a sisterly way; “we will ex- 
hibit the airship. Don’t you believe it will pay?” 

“When bad news comes,” said Huntington, “it 
seems to follow along in a procession.” 

The following morning Huntington discov- 
ered that his creditors had an attachment out for 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 91 

the “Bermuda,” and already a custodian with a 
writ was in possession, sitting meekly down 
therein discussing events with Mr. Wilson, the 
engineer, and Nelson, the motorman. 

“Of course,” said the custodian to ,Mr. Wilson, 
“I am only doing my duty. I can’t see, however, 
how this big ugly thing would bring anything 
at all at a sheriff’s sale. Who would want it ex- 
cept only for a houseboat, perhaps.” 

Mr. Wilson disdainfully answered the man, 
“No, I suppose it would be worthless to you.” 


CHAPTER VII 


H untington kept on investigating. 
“Worse and worse,” he said; “everything 
I possess seems to be valueless, with the 
exception of the real estate block, which will 
probably have to go, too. I am a pauper, simply 
a pauper.” 

He decided, however, to say nothing to Car- 
bonel or Childs at present. He took Leonora 
only in his confidence. They decided to pass 
the evening at the theatre and between the acts 
discuss the situation. 

“I have a lot of money somewhere,” said Leo- 
nora; “we are not all broke.” 

“How do you know,” said Huntington, smil- 
ing. 

Leonora looked amazed. “Why, perhaps it 
is all gone, too. No, it is not all lost, I know. 
I put $3,000 in a safety deposit vault in Chicago 
before I went to Bermuda, and that’s there.” 

“You will need it,” said Huntington. “You 
will need it, poor child ; we won’t touch a penny 
of it.” 

“I will,” said Leonora, “until the airship ex- 
hibition is on.” 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 93 

“Nonsense,” said Huntington; “I am afraid if 
the people are stranded, and in such a condition 
as Bartlett says, they would not pay a penny to 
see the earth turned into a billiard ball.” 

“Wait,” said Leonora; “something really orig- 
inal will catch them.” 

They were sitting in the center of a line of 
empty seats, although the play had been a marvel 
of success for years. Not one person in the sec- 
ond gallery, only a few in the first, and rows of 
empty seats everywhere. On the program there 
was an announcement: “This theatre will close 
at the end of the performance, Saturday night, 
and not open again until further notice.” There 
was a gloom about the place. Even those on the 
stage went through their parts mechanically. It 
was like the performances in the Theatre 
Comique, Paris, during the Prussian war. The 
doors never closed, performances never ceased, 
but there was no life there! 

“What do you really think about this?” said 
Huntington to Leonora between the first and 
second act. 

“Why, if we have all lost everything,” said 
Leonora, “then we must do the very best we can. 
Go to work and trust to luck.” 


94 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

They returned to the hotel and Huntington 
found a letter awaiting him. It was from the 
proprietor of the Hippodrome. It read; “Dear 
Sir: Hearing today that you have just made a 
marvelous trip with a peculiar airship, I can put 
the ship and all on our stage, showing the man- 
ner of operating same and work out a play show- 
ing a few excitable moves, the tornado scene, 
your hasty exit out of Russia, and other thrilling 
incidents.” 

“Escape from Russia! How in the dickens 
did he get that?” 

“Why,” said Leonora, “the newspapers had 
cablegrams from Europe in the afternoon edi- 
tions telling all about Carbonel’s escape from 
Russia. And the evening papers are full of it 
and Carbonel has been interviewed, and poor 
Childs has two hundred reporters after him ask- 
ing him a hundred question every minute. I 
never saw the newspapers until just now when 
I heard the boys calling out on the street ‘All 
about the great airship, one thousand miles an 
hour,’ and I bought a few of them and here they 
are.” 

“Luckily we went out tonight,” said Hunting- 
ton. “The clerks in the office tell me the house 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 95 

has been besieged by reporters with flashlight 
cameras. I will make a contract according to 
the letter. The manager says,” Huntington con- 
tinued to read, “that if I can secure the services 
of all the crew and the presence of the young 
lady and myself, he will pay a thousand dollars 
per night for six months, and as much longer 
thereafter as the exhibition continues to pay.” 

“Didn’t I tell you?” said Leonora. “Why, 
something like that will take when the theatres 
will not draw at all.” 

The letter continued, “Call me up on the 
phone immediately upon your return from the 
theatre and I will come over and see you and 
complete the contract. If anything is done it 
must be done at once. There are 5,000 people 
now down at Coney Island watching the big air- 
ship and all are ‘deadheads.’ ” 

“What do you say?” said Huntington, laugh- 
ing. “You are a little prophetess.” 

“Don’t be too easy,” said Leonora; “strike for 
fifteen hundred dollars per night for the first two 
weeks and tell him you want a check tonight on 
account for five thousand dollars to pay off the 
writs against the ‘Bermuda’ and other little ex- 


96 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


penses. He’ll make lots of money out of it,” 
said Leonora. “Don’t be too easy. His is the 
biggest theatre in the world.” 

Huntington called the manager up on the tele- 
phone, and in twenty minutes he was in a pri- 
vate parlor at the Waldorf. Huntington had 
invited Leonora to stay and criticise the con- 
tract. Huntington’s terms were accepted by the 
manager. 

“Never mind the attachment money,” said the 
manager. “Hang on to your five thousand dol- 
lars; I will settle with them. It is a small amount. 
The airship was attached by some small hot- 
headed creditors. Now watch for results,” said 
the manager, shaking hands with Huntington 
and Leonora and bidding them good evening. “I 
will see you again early in the morning.” 

It was the work of two laborious days to install 
the great airship on the mammoth stage of the 
Hippodrome. A dozen play writers were en- 
gaged, but all agreed that the simple recital of 
the trip as told by Leonora and Carbonel, to- 
gether with the scientific explanations of Pro- 
fessor Childs, formed a sufficient theme upon 
which to construct the most exciting and inter- 
esting stage drama ever produced. Leonora’s 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 97 

quick wit and keen perception aided the play 
writers wonderfully, and Huntington sat quietly 
admiring his assistant manager. The price of 
admission was reduced, but the great building 
was packed night after night and many were 
turned away. The airship in the second act was 
surrounded by wonderful additions of scenery. 
Uena Park, Tokio, was elaborated upon until 
it became a blaze of Japanese glory with hun- 
dreds in native costumes, surrounding the great 
airship. A grand panoramic view of the world 
passing behind the airship in the distance added 
much to the production. In the typhoon scene 
the theatre was darkened and the roar of the 
wind was so dreadful and natural that small chil- 
dren in the audience and many others became 
afraid, until they saw Leonora waving the stars 
and stripes out of the broken window, and then 
it produced a counter-effect, the audience for- 
got the illusionary danger and tumultuous cheer- 
ing almost raised the roof. 

Money was streaming in, and as nearly all 
the fashionable theatres of the city were tem- 
porarily closed, thousands on certain nights were 
unable to gain admission at the Hippodrome. 
The demand for tickets was unprecedented. At 


98 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

the close of this particular act the audience filed 
out, apparently caring nothing for the balance 
of the performance, so the management decided 
to cut out all the other numbers on the program 
and enlarge upon the play relating to the airship. 
Other scenes were introduced, scenes in Peking, 
Tokio and other cities, and a great hit was made 
by showing convict life in the Siberian mines. 
Leonora appeared only in the scene where she 
was presented with the string of pearls from the 
Empress of Japan in Tokio, and during the res- 
cue of Carbonel. Professor Childs related in a 
short scene his method of changing the atmos- 
phere in the car when they were beyond the 
limit of gravitation, and Carbonel, Wilson and 
Nelson operated the car when it ascended and 
descended. Hundreds of expert mechanics and 
scientific machine men of all departments were 
on hand every morning to examine the large 
spiral screw with its lifting capacity of over 
thirty tons. 

Huntington, during the performance was 
manager of the airship. He said to Leonora as 
they sat on the stage before the performance, 
“You have been my guiding star in this matter, 
Leonora. You have been faithful to me in my 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 99 

adversity. Now let me tell you some news. When 
your poor father died he held a valuable block 
of buildings in Chicago. It was mortgaged 
slightly at the time, but in the disastrous days we 
have passed through and when we were away I 
heard from a friend in Chicago that an attempt 
had been made to foreclose and confiscate the 
property. The real value I was informed was 
over one hundred thousand dollars and the mort- 
gage only five thousand dollars. A bill had been 
filed to foreclose. What surprises me you 
should have had no notice of this. My friend 
says that he believes the attorney for your father’s 
estate ordered notices sent to you and had written 
you several letters. Well, never mind, no harm 
has been done, because I took the liberty, out 
of the first money I received, to send a check for 
the amount due on the property in full, and have 
just received a release. You have been so busy 
with the play I thought I would say nothing to 
you about it. It may be that your attorney has 
been faithful.” 

“Poor father,” said Leonora. “He raised that 
money to give me in case of accident. He kept 
two thousand dollars to pay the San Francisco 
expenses and gave me three thousand dollars 


100 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 


which I have in the safety box, but you are a 
great big dear man. You would not tell me 
about what you have done. Oh, dear, how kind 
it was. Well, I am going to make you take my 
three thousand dollars on account anyway.” 

Huntington shook his head and replied, “On 
no account will I take it. We are just even.” 

Everything commenced to mend. The banks 
permitted Huntington to repurchase his lost 
stocks and bonds. Financial affairs soon changed, 
stocks increased in value and many of the securi- 
ties considered unavailable went kiting again. 
The panic was nearly over. Every form of se- 
curity appreciated in value. The hot air mil- 
lionaires picked up odd bits and scraps they had 
abandoned, but were becoming of some value, 
and commenced to “over live” again. 

“I have been waiting for this blooming panic 
to cease for many reasons,” said Huntington. 
“One is the airship season contract is about to 
expire.” 

Leonora was being taken to the Hippodrome 
to attend the last performance. 

“Are you tired of this?” said Huntington. 

“No; I have been delighted all the way 
through. I like the excitement.” 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 101 

“Yes, so do I,” said Huntington, “but I want 
to travel again. I am going to ask you a ques- 
tion tonight and see what you think about it.” 

“Now,” said Leonora, holding his hand, “don’t 
create a new scene in the airship play. We will 
be out of it next week, and perhaps we may 
never perform in the Hippodrome again.” 

“Never mind,” said Huntington, “the little 
scene I am going to add will not be on public 
exhibition; it will be given when the curtain 
rings down.” 

“Pshaw, what is it?” asked Leonora, inno- 
cently. “You know in the play when we all 
alight in New York and the big round curtain 
is going up, closing about the airship, the man- 
ager of the airship runs in and exclaims, ‘Any 
girl who has the nerve to take a trip like that is 
the girl I want for my wife,’ and then what will 
the heroine say?” 

“Why, I suppose,” said Leonora quite compos- 
edly, “she would simply think the matter over 
seriously and give you an answer after the per- 
formance.” 

The Hippodrome manager waited at the exit 
door of the Hippodrome stage with his sixty 
horsepower auto and escorted Leonora gallantly 


102 A Thousand Miles An Hour 

through the throng hanging about the doors. 
Katusha aided Leonora getting her boxes and 
parcels. The heroine stepped into the gorgeous 
vehicle with a light heart and sat next to Hunt- 
ington, who had pushed his way through the 
crowd alone, as he had several heavy packages 
to carry. The Hippodrome manager ordered 
them driven to the hotel. 

Leonora then addressed Huntington, saying 
“The heroine has nothing to say in regard to 
your proposal this evening. You know the an- 
swer,” she smiled sweetly. 

“We understand each other. Shake for all 
time,” was all she said. 

Huntington knew that Leonora had consented 
to be his wife. 

“God bless the girl,” he remarked, “just the 
original kind of an answer I expected.” 

Poor Katusha did not comprehend the dia- 
logue, because everything to her had been very 
strange, and rich or poor, it was all the same, the 
little Japanese maiden knew no trouble and care 
was an entire stranger to her. If Missee was 
happy so was Katusha. 

“You will always stand by me, won’t you, 
Katusha?” Leonora asked her that night. 


A Thousand Miles An Hour 103 

“Me love Missee, die for her,” was all Katu- 
sha replied. 

The wedding of Huntington and Leonora 
soon followed. The receipts from the Hippo- 
drome had set Huntington on his feet financially 
and the airship having proved such an attraction 
was disposed of outright for a large sum to the 
manager of the Hippodrome. 

Carhonel, Wilson and Nelson arranged with 
the manager of the Hippodrome to remain and 
give exhibitions with the airship. Huntington 
and Leonora were quietly married at the “Little 
Church around the Corner,” as suggested by the 
manager of the Hippodrome, who with his wife 
and several lady friends attended the wedding. 

Carhonel, Childs, Wilson and Nelson were 
also present and were happy to think that Leo- 
nora got such a good husband and Huntington 
such a clever and attractive wife. After bidding 
an affectionate and fond farewell to those pres- 
ent, Mr. and Mrs. Huntington and Katusha took 
the night express for an extended trip to Cali- 
tornia. 

As the train was about to move, and Hunting- 
ton and wife were bidding their friends good- 
bye, Leonora said to Katusha “Say good-bye, 
too.” The little Japanese maiden put her head 
out of the open window and sang out sweetly, 
“Sayonara.” 


AUG 18 1913 






A Thousani 


Miles an Houi 


Mother Shipton’s Prophecy, 1485: 

** Around the World Thoughts Shall Fly 
In the Twinkling of an Eye** 

It Came True (Wireless Telegraphy) 

And the Prophecy in this Story, 1913 

“To China you may go pi' 

In about twelve hours or so.” • • < 


Read this story it will give 
you an idea of what may 
happen in aerial navigation 



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